Millers place 10th at Carl Albert meet

Tyler Dechant clears the bar during a recent meet. Dechant won the high jump event at the Carl Albert Invitational. (Photo by Chuck Reherman)

By Chuck RehermanSports Editor
MIDWEST CITY – It could be described as a “weird vibe” as Yukon ran into a challenging day at the Carl Albert Invitational Thursday.
The Millers placed in only four events and finished 10th overall in the meet.
The meet was moved up a day (due to incoming inclement weather) and the Millers were missing some of the competitors (due to the teacher walk-out) and led to what YHS head coach Matt Parent called a strange day.
Yukon finished 10th scoring 26 points. Carl Albert won the meet with 102 points, Midwest City was second with 86 and Edmond Memorial third with 85.
“We had a decent showing, however, there was definitely kind of a weird vibe,” Parent said. “We were missing a few people because the meet was supposed to be Friday, but it was moved to Thursday because of the threat of bad weather. Looking back at it, it was a good idea.
“There were some bright spots for sure,” he added. “Tyler (Dechant) did a great job in the high jump and the 110 high hurdles. He keeps improving in the hurdles. He ran a fairly clean flight. He is steadily improving for us.”
Dechant won one of the two Miller gold medals, winning the high jump with a leap of six-feet, four-inches. Dechant also finished fourth in the 110-meter high hurdles in a time of 15.23 seconds. Kole Frederick had hit worst finish of the season, running seventh in 15.73. Frederick did finish fifth in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 42.75.
Jack Gose won the pole vault with a vault of 14-feet.
“After winning the high jump, he and coach (Kevin) Ritter opted to go for a personal best jump of 6-7,” Parent said. “He didn’t have optimal conditions, but he had a good attempt at it.
“Jack continued to impress in the pole vault,” he added. “He is starting to move his hand grip up which will benefit him in the long run. He has a great chance at the school record if he can complete this transformation.
“Even though we dropped the stick in the 4×100 (Frederick, Isaiah Butler, Parker Kenley, and Carvell McKinley), I think we are close to putting something together,” Parent said. “Hopefully we can get everyone together for multiple days this week and get our steps perfected. If we can, we have the chance to be a solid team.”
The Millers will host the Yukoinb Track Classic on Friday. The meet will begin at 10 a.m. and will feature a field of 25 teams.